Malice

Chapter 1: Forced Recrution

I was jogging down the street by myself early one morning, attempting to get myself energized for the day. I found that exercise was always a good way to get myself amped up for the day.

It was around 5:00 AM, and I was jogging around my neighbourhood. The chilly air whipped at my face as I ran around the block, and my feet splashed in cold puddles of rain from the previous night. The sidewalk was wet, and a few shades darker than it would normally be, due to the rain. Several dead leaves littered the street and cement and, although they were dead, they were no longer dry. I looked up at the few leaves left on the dead tree branches. They were covered in small droplets of water, which would occasionally pile onto the tip of the leaf and then splash onto the cement, making small splatters of water on the already moist sidewalk.

I looked at the sky, gray and filled with dark clouds. The sun wasn't visible now, and it was unlikely that it would be for a few more hours. If I could use one word to describe the setting, the weather, everything around me, it would be dismal.

Dismal.

Gloomy.

It was dreary.

However, as dreary as it was, it was peaceful, and I loved it.

It was so serene.

I took my eyes off of the scenery around me, and focused back on exercising.

I heavily breathed as I sped up my running. Beads of sweat dripped off of my forehead and down my nose as I jogged. I turned up my music as I ran, adjusting the volume.
"ULTRAnumb" by Blue Stahli.
I turned it up to full blast.
It was one of those songs that just got your blood rushing and kept you going.
I loved it.

My music was what kept me motivated.

I stopped at the corner of the block for a moment, taking notice of the shady looking person across the street, talking to a familiar looking man.
I paused and just stared for a moment.

I noticed that the man was my friend, Joshua. He looked nervous as he talked to the figure in front if him. The figure was wearing all black.
Black hoodie, black pants, black shoes.

I noticed that it had its hands in its pockets the entire time it was talking, which I thought was rather odd.

It could see that it had a rather masculine figure, which led me to assume it was in fact a male. He was tall, around 5'10. That was almost all that I could see, though, since his baggy clothing left a lot to the imagination.

'I've never seen him around here before...maybe he's friends with Josh....' I thought to myself.

I looked away for a moment to check the time.

5:17 AM.

'Good...I'm going pretty fast.'

I looked back up and saw that both Josh and the figure had disappeared, which completely flummoxed me.

I attempted to make sense of it.

'Maybe they went inside. They were close to the entrance to begin with...that has to be it...."

It seemed like the only reasonable explanation.

I looked around one more time to make sure that they weren't anywhere else.

Nope.

They were nowhere to be seen.

I tried not to let it bother me too much, although it was rather eerie and made me feel slightly uneasy.

I put my earbuds back into my ears and continued to jog.

I was only a few minutes into running again when I saw the figure reappear, this time much closer to me. We stood about 12 feet apart.

"Umm...hello, sir. Can I help you with anything?"

He just stood there, with his hands still in his pockets. I looked at him, and he looked back at me.

I laughed nervously and tried to go around him, but as soon as I tried to move, he grabbed my wrist and wouldn't let me go.

"Hey! What the hell?!"

I tugged away from him and started to run. I ran as fast as I could, scared that he would catch me if I slowed down. I didn't know who he was, or why he grabbed me, but his presence felt...malevolent. I felt like he had malicious intentions, and I needed to get away from him as fast as possible.

I hurried around the corner, and I continued to sprint around the entire block. The cold wind lashed at my face, and my feet were starting to ache from running for such a long time.

I stopped for a few seconds and looked around again, but instead of seeing what I wanted to see, which was to see him gone, I saw that he appeared right in front of my face.

I gasped and turned around, attempting to run again, but as soon as I started running, he took his hands out of his pockets and pulled out a gun.

He aimed it at my leg, and quickly shot, the bullet lodging itself into my left calf. I screamed out in pain and felt tears stream down my face. I could feel my warm, sticky blood gushing out of my leg, and the cold, dry air hitting it only added on to the intense pain I was feeling. My blood was pouring out, making a dark red pool of blood on the cement, underneath my leg. I knew that if I was to be left there for a few minutes, I would most definitely die from blood loss. My face was getting paler by the second, and I was really starting to feel how cold it was.

I attempted to scream out for help, but before any sound could come out, I had a sack over my head, and the last thing I felt was a sharp needle darting into my skin, right on my neck. I quickly became lightheaded, and I could feel myself getting dizzy.

Then, everything went black.

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Author's Note: This is just another one of my horrible attempts at writing a mediocre story, but, if you like it, please, share this with your friends, your friends' friends, or anyone you think might enjoy this story. I do put a lot of effort into my writing, and a vote would be very much appreciated. (:
-Julissa Zavaleta/MaybeSpaceObsessed

(Also, here's "ULTRAnumb" by Blue Stahli.

https://youtu.be/6-2jNiVK86A

It's amazing.)